A steady breeze made the first 90-degree day of 2012 tolerable for the thousands of visitors to the three-day festival. They swarmed the 13 sailing vessels and one tugboat docked on both sides of the river while families flocked to the Kids Cove Adventure area featuring artistic, educational and entertainment activities for children.

The festival wraps up today with gates opening at 10 a.m. and closing at 6 p.m. The ships will depart at approximately 9:30 a.m. Monday to begin the nearly two-month race up the Atlantic Coast. The finish line is Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The day included some not-so-subtle reminders about the evolution of maritime trade in Savannah — the giant container ships that plowed to and from the Georgia Ports Authority terminal as well as dozens of pleasure boats.

Technically speaking, Picton Castle crewmember Aase Huggler’s duties Saturday involved selling the arts and crafts collected by the tall ship in its five cruises around the world over the last decade.

The young Danish woman spent more time addressing the banner that hung from the ship’s rigging than the wares on her table, however. The sign announced a voyage to the South Pacific this fall — and advertised for crew.

“There’s plenty of interest,” Huggler said. “And it’s not like other boats where crewing means hauling a few sails and lounging the rest of the way. You really work and do all the jobs.”

The Picton Castle will set sail for Tahiti and ultimately Rarotonga at the Tall Ship Challenge’s close in Nova Scotia in July. The seven-month voyage will include stops in the Galapagos, famous for its giant turtles and late resident Charles Darwin, as well as Pitcairn Island, where HMS Bounty captain William Bligh was marooned following the mutiny.

The boat will traverse the Panama Canal to access the Pacific.

Potential Picton Castle crewmembers must apply online at www.picton-castle.com and interview for a spot aboard the boat. The ship can take as many as 37 crew and the entire cost is $36,000 Canadian (approximately $36,400 American dollars). The trip is broken into two legs and for those who want to cut the trip short and fly home from Tahiti, the cost is $18,000.

The ship will return to the Western Hemisphere from the South Pacific. Pirate activity in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa has discouraged many from circumnavigations, Huggler said.

The juggling stiltwalker that entertained visitors along River Street wouldn’t share his name, but he did give away a secret.

He showed how he picks up his clubs on the rare occasion he drops them.

The stiltwalker crouches on his elaborate stilts then bends backward until he can reach the ground in a move that would make a yoga master wince.

“The only problem is my hat will fall off while I’m picking up the clubs,” he said. “Then I have to grab it while I’m down there.”

The coolest volunteer job belonged to Savannah’s Christina Cintron. She and her mother worked the paddle boats in the Kids Cove Adventure, with Christina standing in cool, knee-deep water and helping children get in and out of the plastic, hand-powered boats.

“I let her do the honors,” Nancy Cintron said of her daughter. “It’s cooler but it’s also more work.”

The mother-daughter team are avid volunteers. The worked the Relay for Life event on Friday night — Nancy is a breast cancer survivor — and will team up again in the Kids Cove Sunday morning.

Six inches tall and paper thin, Stanley visited the challenge with Skidaway Island residents Chris and Robyn Matthews. Flat Stanley is the star of the popular children’s books of the same name.

Stanley came to Savannah and the mail with instructions from the third grade class at East Antigonish Education Centre, an elementary school in Nova Scotia, Canada. The Matthews were to photograph Stanley around Savannah and send Stanley and the photos back to their grand-niece, Erika Brophy, who attends the school.

“We figured a picture of him at the Tall Ship festival would give the class an idea of Savannah being a port city on the river,” Robyn Matthews said.

The third graders are already in for a shock when it comes to Stanley’s Savannah visit. The first photo the Matthews took with him was outside their Landings home, with Stanley looking down on an alligator in a lagoon.